Method of managing reception of natural disaster warning notification messages for a wireless communication system and related communication device

ABSTRACT

A method of managing notification message reception corresponding to natural disaster warning for a user equipment of a wireless communication system includes managing the notification message reception according to configuration information broadcasted or paged by a network of the wireless communication system, wherein the configuration information broadcasted or paged by the network of the wireless communication system is existence information of a notification message sent by a serving cell.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/346,847filed on Dec. 31, 2008, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/087,986, filed on Aug. 11, 2008.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for message transmission andrelated communication device in a wireless communication system, andmore particularly, to a method and related communication device of thewireless communication system for managing notification messagereception corresponding to natural disaster warning.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System (ETWS), set forth by the 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP), is a natural disaster warningsystem for delivering Warning Notification simultaneously to many mobileusers who should evacuate from approaching Earthquake or Tsunami. TheETWS consists of a PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) that is capable todeliver Warning Notification and user equipments (UEs) that are capableto receive Warning Notification. The PLMN of the ETWS can be a GERAN(GSM/EDEG radio access network) of a 2G/2.5G GSM system, a UTRAN (UMTSradio access network) of a 3G UMTS system, or a EUTRAN (evolved-UTAN) ofa long term evolution (LTE) system. Warning Notification Providers,which are usually run by local governments, produce Warning Notificationto PLMN operator when an earthquake or tsunami event occurs.

Warning Notification is classified into two types depending on thepurpose and urgency of the notification. The first type of Notificationis called Primary Notification that delivers the most importantinformation of the threat that is approaching to users (e.g. theimminent occurrence of Earthquake or Tsunami) and shall be delivered tothe users as soon as possible. The second type of Notification is calledSecondary Notification that delivers additional information, such asinstructions on what to do or where to get help.

The Warning Notification Provider publishes a Primary Notification toPLMN and specifies the Notification Area where the Warning Notificationis expected to be distributed when occurrence of a natural disaster isdetected. Single or multiple Secondary Notifications are publishedfollowing the Primary Notification. Finally, the Warning NotificationProvider may request dissemination of notification to the PLMN to stop.

According to the prior art specification, the GERAN, the UTRAN, or theEUTRAN can use paging message to send a primary notification messagesince the primary notification message shall be delivered to the UEwithin 4 seconds. Alternatively, system information is utilized to sendthe primary notification message, and a paging message is then sent tonotify UE to receive the primary notification message by receiving thebroadcasted system information in a serving cell. As for delivery of asecondary notification message, Broadcast/Multicast Control (BMC) isused in the UTRAN, system information is used in the EUTRAN, and SMS-CB(Short Message Service-Cell Broadcast) is used in GERAN.

In the prior art, an ETWS capable UE in an idle mode starts to receivethe secondary notification messages once one or more primarynotification messages are received. However, the prior art neitherspecifies when the ETWS capable UE shall stop receiving the secondarynotification messages if the warning notification providers stopdelivering secondary notification messages nor specifies UE reactions tosecondary notification message reception when cell selection orreselection, out of service, a RAT (Radio Access Technology) change, andother situation occurs. The main drawback is that the UE power drains ifthe UE cannot stop receiving secondary notification messages when nosecondary notification message is delivered. Some examples are providedbelow to illustrate the drawback.

Issue 1 is described in this paragraph. The UE receives a paging messageincluding a primary notification message from a warning notificationprovider in a GREAN cell. The UE starts to receive cell broadcast (CB)messages including secondary notification messages by listening to CBCH(Cell Broadcast Channel). After a while, the warning notificationprovider stops delivering the secondary notification messages. However,the UE still keeps receiving CB messages on CBCH.

Issue 2 is described in this paragraph. The UE receives a paging messageincluding a primary notification message from a warning notificationprovider in a UTRAN cell. The UE starts to receive cell broadcast (CB)messages including secondary notification messages by listening toSCCPCH (Secondary Common Control Physical Channel). After a while, thewarning notification provider stops delivering the secondarynotification messages. However, the UE still keeps receiving CB messageson SCCPCH.

Issue 3 is described in this paragraph. The UE receives a paging messageincluding a primary notification message from a warning notificationprovider in a EUTRAN cell. The UE starts to receive system informationmessage including secondary notification messages. After a while, thewarning notification provider stops delivering the secondarynotification messages. However, the UE still keeps receiving systeminformation.

Issue 4 is described in this paragraph. After the UE receives a primarynotification message and then enters RR (radio resource) dedicated modeor a packet transfer mode in a GERAN cell or RRC (radio resourcecontrol) connected mode in a UTRAN/EUTRAN cell due to a MT (MobileTerminated) call or web browsing, the UE cannot receive the secondarynotification messages. When the UE enters the idle mode, the prior artdoes not specify if the UE continues to receive secondary notificationmessages or not. If the base station (GERAN/UTRAN/EUTRAN) has stoppedsending secondary notification messages but the UE keeps secondarynotification message reception, the UE power drains.

Issue 5 is described in this paragraph. After the UE receives a primarynotification message in a cell with a certain RAT (RAT 1) and thensuddenly detects out of service, the UE cannot receive the secondarynotification messages. When the UE re-enters in service area in the sameRAT (RAT 1), the prior art does not specify if the UE continues toreceive secondary notification messages or not. If the base station(GERAN/UTRAN/EUTRAN) has stopped sending secondary notification messagesbut the UE keeps the secondary notification message reception, the UEpower drains. When the UE re-enters in service area in a different RAT(RAT 2), the prior art does not specify if the UE continues to receivesecondary notification messages or not. The secondary notificationmessages may not be sent in the RAT (RAT 2). As a result, the UE powerdrains since the UE keeps receiving secondary notification messages.

Issue 6 is described in this paragraph. After the UE receives a primarynotification message in a cell and then reselects to another cell beforestarting to receive secondary notification messages, the prior art notspecify if the UE continues to receive secondary notification messagesor not. If the reselected cell belongs to a different RAT, the secondarynotification messages may not be sent. If the UE keeps receivingsecondary notification messages, the UE power drains.

Issue 7 is described in this paragraph. The UE may miss primarynotification messages (e.g. paging messages) due to cell reselection ora short interruption of service (e.g. entering elevator). In this case,the UE will not receive secondary notification messages afterreselecting or re-entering the service area until the UE receives aprimary notification message.

Issue 8 is described in this paragraph. The prior art does not specifyhow the warning notification provider only sends primary notificationmessages, i.e. no secondary notification message.

Issue 9 is described in this paragraph. The UE may not be able toreceive paging and secondary notification messages simultaneously. Forexample, the reception of paging message has higher priority than normalCB (cell broadcast) messages in the GERAN/UTRAN. However, thisspecification may not be proper for CB messages including secondarynotification messages because the secondary notification messages maycontain more important information.

Issue 10 is described in this paragraph. A UE camps on a cell that thesystem information does not have configuration for secondarynotification message. The warning notification provider requests toactivate ETWS and provides primary notification and secondarynotification messages. The base station controlling the cell changessystem information to include configuration for UE to receive secondarynotification messages. The base station sends a system informationchange notification message to notify UEs system information changed.The UE receives the changed system information. The base station sends aprimary notification message. The UE receives a primary notificationmessage and then receives secondary notification messages. This deliveryis not efficient because the base station has to send a systeminformation change notification message in advance of the primarynotification message.

Issue 11 is described in this paragraph. The LTE base station, i.e. eNB,may not have good support for ETWS in the first launch. If paging isused to send primary notification messages, the primary notificationmessage is easily introduced into a paging message by doing a littlemodification to the paging message. However, it needs more effort tosupport secondary notification messages. Another example is that LTEcells with a small bandwidth (e.g. 1.25 MHz) may have insufficientresources to send the secondary notification messages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention further discloses a method ofmanaging notification message reception corresponding to naturaldisaster warning for a UE of a wireless communication system. The methodincludes managing the notification message reception according toconfiguration information broadcasted or paged by a network of thewireless communication system, wherein the configuration informationbroadcasted or paged by the network of the wireless communication systemis existence information of a notification message sent by a servingcell.

An embodiment of the present invention further discloses a communicationdevice of a wireless communication system for managing notificationmessage reception corresponding to natural disaster warning. Thecommunication device comprises a processing means for executing aprogram, and a storage unit coupled to the processing means for storingthe program; wherein the program instructs the processing means toperform the following steps: managing the notification message receptionaccording to configuration information broadcasted or paged by a networkof the wireless communication system, wherein the configurationinformation broadcasted or paged by the network of the wirelesscommunication system is existence information of a notification messagesent by a serving cell.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according toembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram between a UE and a base station accordingto FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Please refer to FIG. 1, which illustrates a schematic diagram of awireless communication system 10 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. The wireless communication system 10 is an Earthquakeand Tsunami Warning System based on a 2.5G/3G (Generation) mobiletelecommunication system, an LTE (long-term evolution) system or othermobile communication systems, and is briefly composed of a network and aplurality of UEs. In FIG. 1, the network and the UEs are simply utilizedfor illustrating the structure of the wireless communication system 10.Practically, the network may be a public land mobile network (PLMN),such as a GERAN (GSM/EDEG radio access network) of a 2G/2.5G GSM system,a UTRAN (UMTS radio access network) of a 3G UMTS system, or a EUTRAN(evolved-UTAN) of the LTE system, comprising a plurality of basestations (i.e. BTSs, Node-Bs, or eNBs), network controllers (i.e. BaseStation Controllers or Radio Network Controllers) and so on according toactual demands. The UEs can be devices such as mobile phones, computersystems, etc. Besides, the network and the UE can be seen as atransmitter or receiver according to transmission direction, e.g., foruplink, the UE is the transmitter and the network is the receiver, andfor downlink, the network is the transmitter and the UE is the receiver.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which illustrates a schematic diagram of acommunication device 20 according to embodiments of the presentinvention. The communication device 20 is utilized for realizing thenetwork or the UEs shown in FIG. 1 and includes a processor 200, acomputer readable recording medium 210, a communication interfacing unit220 and a control unit 230. The computer readable recording medium 210is any data storage device that stores storage data 212, includingprogram code and corresponding parameters (i.e. a timer or a flag ifnecessary), and the storage data 212 is thereafter read and processed bythe processor 200. Examples of the computer readable recording mediuminclude read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs,magnetic tapes, hard disks, optical data storage devices, and carrierwaves (such as data transmission through the Internet). The control unit230 controls the communication interfacing unit 220 and relatedoperations and states of the communication device 20 according toprocessed results of the process 200. The communication interfacing unit220 is responsible for exchanging wireless signals with a peercommunication device.

To facilitate emergency information delivery for a natural disaster(i.e. an earthquake or a tsunami), the network of the wirelesscommunication system 10 receives a Primary Notification and one or morefollowing Secondary Notifications published by a Warning NotificationProvider and thereby generates Primary Notification message and theSecondary Notification messages delivered to the UE in page type messageor system information form. The UE has to receive one or more secondarynotification messages when a primary notification message is received.In addition, the network can send configuration information to the UE ina broadcast (e.g. system information) or paging (e.g. paging messages)way.

To avoid a power waste in notification message reception and a missingof notification messages, the following processes are provided a userequipment of a wireless communication system to managing thenotification message reception (e.g. secondary notification messagereception or related configuration information reception) according to areception property of the notification message reception, configurationinformation broadcasted or paged by a network of the wirelesscommunication system, or a connection state of the user equipment.

Please refer to FIG. 16, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 1600according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process 1600 isutilized for managing the secondary notification message reception of aUE in a wireless communication system and can be compiled into theprogram code of the storage data 212 stored in the computer readablerecording medium 210. The process 1600 includes the following steps:

Step 1602: Start.

Step 1604: Manage secondary notification message reception according toprimary message reception prior to the secondary notification messagereception, information carried by a primary message, or a connectionstate of the UE.

Step 1606: End.

According to the process 1600, the secondary notification messagereception of the UE is managed according to the primary messagereception, information carried by the primary message, or a connectionstate of the UE. For example, the UE stops the secondary notificationmessage reception when the primary message does not include anyinformation about the secondary notification message delivery. On thecontrary, the UE begins or resumes the secondary notification messagereception when the primary message includes information about thesecondary notification message delivery.

The connection state of the UE includes the connection state of the UEcorresponding to radio resource control (e.g. a packet transfer mode),the connection state of the UE corresponding to a radio accesstechnology (RAT), and the connection state of the UE corresponding tocell selection or cell reselection.

Through the process 1600, the UE neither wastes power on the secondarynotification message reception nor misses any secondary notificationmessage.

For further specific explanation of the concept of the presentinvention, the following embodiments describe management of thesecondary notification message reception when the UE meets differentsituations.

The reception properties of the notification message reception can be apredetermined time of the notification message reception. Please referto FIG. 3, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 30 according to anembodiment of the present invention. The process 30 is utilized formanaging the secondary notification message reception for a UE of awireless communication system and can be compiled into the program codeof the storage data 212 stored in the computer readable recording medium210. The process 30 includes the following steps:

Step 300: Start.

Step 302: Execute the secondary notification message reception for apredetermined time.

Step 304: End.

According to the process 30, the present invention specifies the UE toexecute the secondary notification message reception for a predeterminedtime. In other words, the UE stops the secondary notification messagereception when the predetermined time expires. Preferably, the UEfurther receives an indication message, which indicates continuation orstop of the secondary notification message reception, from the networkand thereby determines whether to continue or stop the notificationmessage according to the indication message.

Preferably, the predetermined time is 50 s. A timer stored in the UE(i.e. the storage data 212) is configured by the UE or the network forsetting the predetermined time. The UE starts the timer when the primarynotification message, a complete secondary notification message, or partof a secondary notification message is received. The timer value ispreferably sent in a primary notification message, a secondarynotification message, a complete secondary notification message, part ofthe secondary notification message or system information.

The process 30 can solve the issues 1-6 of the prior art and therebyprevent the UE from wasting power on the secondary notification messagereception when no more secondary notification message may be deliveredto the UE.

The configuration information broadcasted or paged by the network of thewireless communication system can be a notification message includingscheduling information used for indicating a termination time ofnotification message delivery. Please refer to FIG. 4, which illustratesa flowchart of a process 40 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The process 40 is utilized for managing the secondarynotification message reception for a UE of a wireless communicationsystem and can be compiled into the program code of the storage data212. The process 40 includes the following steps:

Step 400: Start.

Step 402: Execute the secondary notification message reception.

Step 404: Receive a secondary notification message including schedulinginformation used for indicating termination time of secondarynotification message delivery.

Step 406: Stop the secondary notification message reception according tothe scheduling information.

Step 408: End.

According to the process 40, he UE executes the secondary notificationmessage reception, preferably after the primary notification message isreceived. When receiving a secondary notification message includingscheduling information, the UE stops the secondary notification messagereception according to the termination time of the schedulinginformation. The process 40 can solve the issues 1-3 of the prior art.

Preferably, in the process 40, the scheduling information is included inone of a plurality of secondary notification messages generated by thenetwork.

The reception properties of the notification message reception can be afixed number of received secondary notification messages. Please referto FIG. 5, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 50 according to anembodiment of the present invention. The process 50 is utilized formanaging the secondary notification message reception for a UE of awireless communication system and can be compiled into the program codeof the storage data 212. The process 50 includes the following steps:

Step 500: Start.

Step 502: Stop the secondary notification message reception when a fixednumber of secondary notification messages are received.

Step 504: End.

According to the process 50, the present invention specifies the UE tostop the secondary notification message reception when a fixed number ofsecondary notification messages are received. The process 50 can solvethe issues 1-6 of the prior art.

Preferably, the configuration of the fixed number is included in aprimary notification message. Please refer to FIG. 6, which illustratesa sequence diagram of a UE and a base station of a network according tothe process 50. In FIG. 6, the UE receives the primary notificationmessage from the base station and then retrieves a number of 2corresponding to the secondary notification message reception from theprimary notification message. Then, the UE stops the secondarynotification message reception when two consecutive secondarynotification messages are received.

Alternatively, the fixed number is predetermined in the UE before thenotification message reception is executed. For example, if the fixednumber is set to 3, the UE automatically starts to receive threesecondary notification messages when a primary notification message isreceived.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 70according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process 70 isutilized for managing the secondary notification message reception for aUE of a wireless communication system and can be compiled into theprogram code of the storage data 212. The process 70 includes thefollowing steps:

Step 700: Start.

Step 702: Stop the secondary notification message reception when areception termination message is received from a network of the wirelesscommunication system.

Step 704: End.

According to the process 70, the UE stops the secondary notificationmessage reception when the reception termination message is received. Inother words, the network controls the UE to stop the secondarynotification message reception via the reception termination message.The process 70 can solve the issues 1-3 of the prior art.

Preferably, the reception termination message is a paging message withspecific content. The UE immediately stops the secondary notificationmessage reception when receiving a paging message with such content.Alternatively, the reception termination message is a secondarynotification message including reception termination informationindicating the UE whether to continue the secondary notification messagereception or not.

Please refer to FIG. 8, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 80according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process 80 isutilized for managing the secondary notification message reception for aUE of a wireless communication system and can be compiled into theprogram code of the storage data 212. The process 80 includes thefollowing steps:

Step 800: Start.

Step 802: Activate the secondary notification message reception when areception indication message indicating permission of the secondarynotification message reception is received.

Step 804: Suspend the secondary notification message reception when theUE enters a disaster notification disallowing mode.

Step 806: Terminate the secondary notification message reception whenthe UE switches from the disaster notification disallowing mode to adisaster notification allowing mode.

Step 808: End.

According to the process 80, the UE activates the secondary notificationmessage reception when the reception indication message sent by thenetwork is received. Before completion of the secondary notificationmessage reception, the UE suspends the secondary notification messagereception when entering the disaster notification disallowing mode wheresecondary notification messages are not allowed to be sent. Theembodiment of the present invention specifies that the UE terminates thesecondary notification message reception when switching from thedisaster notification disallowing mode to a disaster notificationallowing mode. Preferably, the reception indication message is a primarynotification message indicating that the UE is allowed to receive thesecondary notification messages.

Preferably, the UE switches from the disaster notification disallowingmode to the disaster notification allowing mode when a mode changemessage sent by the network is received. In this situation, a receptiontermination indicator is preferably included in the mode change message.

Preferably, the disaster notification allowing mode is an idle mode.Under different radio access networks, the disaster notificationdisallowing modes are different. For example, the disaster notificationdisallowing mode is a radio resource (RR) dedicated mode or a packettransfer mode when the UE operates under the GERAN. The disasternotification disallowing mode is a CELL DCH state or a CELL FACH statefor the UTRAN. The disaster notification disallowing mode is a radioresource control (RRC) connected mode for the EUTRAN. As can be seenfrom the above, the process 80 can solve the issue 4 of the prior art.

When the UE operates under the GERAN and performs Steps 802 and 804,where the UE suspends the secondary notification message reception whenentering the packet transfer mode due to a specific event (i.e. webbrowsing), another embodiment process of the present invention isprovided as follows. The Packet transfer mode is information transfer bymeans of packet transmission and packet switching, thereby permittingdynamic sharing of network resources among many connections.

Please refer to FIG. 9, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 90according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process 90 isutilized for managing the secondary notification message reception for aUE of a wireless communication system and can be compiled into theprogram code of the storage data 212. The process 90 includes thefollowing steps:

Step 900: Start.

Step 902: Suspend the packet transfer mode.

Step 904: Resume the secondary notification message reception after thepacket transfer mode is suspended.

Step 906: End.

According to the process 90, the UE suspends the packet transfer modeafter entering the packet transfer mode, and then resumes the secondarynotification message reception after the packet transfer mode issuspended.

In addition, the UE can further resume the packet transfer mode when thenotification message reception is not scheduled. Unschedulednotification message reception described herein means that the networkdiscontinuously sends the notification messages to the UE. For example,the UE has to enter the packet transfer mode when activating a webbrowsing service and then suspends the packet transfer mode for thesecondary notification message reception. On the other hand, the networkschedules discontinuous transmission for the secondary notificationmessage. Each transmission can include a complete secondary notificationmessage or part of the secondary notification message. Due todiscontinuous transmission, system resources of the UE are not used forthe notification message reception between two consecutive transmissionsfor the secondary notification message. The periods between theconsecutive transmissions are seen as that the notification messagereception is not scheduled. The UE resumes the packet transfer mode forunfinished reception of the web browsing service during the periods.

As can be seen from the above, the UE activates the secondarynotification message reception when the primary notification message aswell as the abovementioned reception indication message is received.During the secondary notification message reception, the UE may selector reselect a cell due to bad communication quality with the currentserving cell or better communication quality with the selected cell. TheUE receives system information corresponding to the selected cell aftercell selection or reselection is performed. In this situation, theembodiment of the present invention provides reception managing programcode in the storage data 212 to prevent power waste. Please refer toFIG. 10, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 1000 according to anembodiment of the present invention. The process 1000 is utilized formanaging the secondary notification message reception for a UE of awireless communication system and can be compiled into the receptionmanaging program code. The process 1000 includes the following steps:

Step 1002: Start.

Step 1004: Continue the secondary notification message reception whenthe system information includes resource configuration about secondarynotification message delivery.

Step 1006: Stop the secondary notification message reception when thesystem information includes no resource configuration about thesecondary notification message delivery.

Step 1008: End.

According to the process 1000, the UE determines execution of thesecondary notification message reception according to the systeminformation of the selected cell. When the system information includesthe resource configuration about secondary notification messagedelivery, this means that secondary notification message delivery issupported in the selected cell. As a result, the UE continues thesecondary notification message reception. On the contrary, the UE stopsthe secondary notification message reception since the systeminformation without the abovementioned resource configuration indicatesthat the selected cell does not support the secondary notificationmessage delivery.

Preferably, the UE keeps receiving system information during theactivation of secondary notification message reception or receives thesystem information when a system information change message is received.

In addition, the UE can further start a timer corresponding to thesecondary notification message reception when the system informationincludes the resource configuration, and stops the secondarynotification message reception at expiration of the timer when none ofsecondary notification message is received before the timer expires. Inaddition, the UE restarts the timer when a primary notification message,a complete notification message or part of a notification message isreceived.

The process 1000 provides a criteria for the UE using the secondarynotification message reception to deal with the cell selection andreselection and thus can solve the issues 5 and 6 of the prior art.

In addition to the process 1000, another embodiment described as belowis provided to deal with the cell selection and reselection. Pleaserefer to FIG. 11, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 1100according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process 1100 isutilized for managing the secondary notification message reception for aUE of a wireless communication system and can be compiled into thereception managing program code. The process 1100 includes the followingsteps:

Step 1102: Start.

Step 1104: Stop the secondary notification message reception aftercompletion of selecting the cell.

Step 1106: End.

According to the process 1100, the embodiment of the present inventionspecifies that the UE stops the secondary notification message receptionafter the completion of selecting the cell, irrespective of whether thesecondary notification message delivery is supported in the selectedcell. The process 1100 can solve the issues 5 and 6 of the prior art aswell.

Please refer to FIG. 12, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 1200according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process 1200 isutilized for managing the secondary notification message reception for aUE of a wireless communication system and can be compiled into theprogram code of the storage data 212. The process 1200 includes thefollowing steps:

Step 1202: Start.

Step 1204: Receive existence information of a secondary notificationmessage from a serving cell.

Step 1206: Determine execution of the secondary notification messagereception according to the existence information.

Step 1208: End.

According to the process 1200, the serving cell sends existenceinformation of a secondary notification message, and accordingly the UEdetermines execution of the secondary notification message receptionaccording to content of the existence information after receiving theexistence information.

To fit different system requirement, the ordinary skill in the art candetermine what kind of existence information the serving cell sends andwhat way to send the existence information. For example, the servingcell can include a flag in broadcast system information. The flag isused for indicating the UE of a broadcast state of the notificationmessage. For example, the flag set to ‘1’ indicates that the secondarynotification messages are broadcasted in the serving cell, whereas theset to ‘0’ indicates that none of the secondary notification messagesare broadcasted. The UE determines to receive the secondary notificationmessages when the received flag is “1”, and not to execution thesecondary notification message reception when the received flag is “0”.In this case, the process 1200 can solve the issues 5-7 of the priorart.

Taking another example, the serving cell can include the existenceinformation in the primary notification message. In this situation, theUE can certainly obtain the existence information before the secondarynotification message reception is activated and thereby can timelycontrol the secondary notification message reception. In this case, theprocess 1200 can solve the issue 8 of the prior art.

The existence information of the primary notification message can be abroadcast scope of the secondary notification message, indicating acell-wide, routing-area-wide, location-area-wide, tracking-area-wide, orpublic-land-mobile-network-wide scope. With the broadcast scopeinformation, the UE can know whether it locates within the broadcastcoverage and thereby determines whether to activate the secondarynotification message reception. In this case, the process 1200 can solvethe issues 5 and 6 of the prior art.

When the secondary notification message is transmitted in broadcast typemessage form, such as a cell broadcast (CB) message, the embodiment ofthe present invention provides reception priority program code in thestorage data 212 to prevent the UE from missing the secondarynotification message. Please refer to FIG. 13, which illustrates aflowchart of a process 1300 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The process 1300 is utilized for managing the secondarynotification message reception for a UE of a wireless communicationsystem and can be compiled into the reception priority program code. Theprocess 1300 includes the following steps:

Step 1302: Start.

Step 1304: Give reception of a broadcast type message higher priorityover reception of a non broadcast type message when priority informationof the broadcast type message included in a first message sent by anetwork is received.

Step 1306: End.

According to the process 1300, the priority information of the broadcasttype message is included in a first message by the network. That is, thenetwork, through the first message, indicates the UE that the broadcasttype message, used for the secondary notification message, is the mostimportant, urgent message to receive. The UE thus gives reception of thebroadcast type message higher priority over reception of any nonbroadcast type messages when the priority information of the firstmessage is received. In this situation, when the broadcast andnon-broadcast type messages reception collides, the UE receives thebroadcast type message.

Preferably, the network uses a primary notification message as the firstmessage. The non-broadcast type message is a paging message for the UEin the idle mode.

Therefore, the process 1300 can prevent the UE from missing thesecondary notification message and can solve the issue 9 of the priorart.

Please refer to FIG. 14, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 1400according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process 1400 isutilized for managing the secondary notification message reception for aUE of a wireless communication system and can be compiled into theprogram code of the storage data 212. The process 1400 includes thefollowing steps:

Step 1402: Start.

Step 1404: Receive system information of a serving cell when a primarynotification message is received from the serving cell, where the systeminformation includes configuration of secondary notification messagereception.

Step 1406: End.

According to the process 1400, the UE receives system information of theserving cell when the primary notification message is received. Theserving cell includes configuration of secondary notification messagereception in the system information.

In the process 1400, the UE may include no configuration of thesecondary notification message reception before the primary notificationmessage is received.

Through the process 1400, the serving cell does not need to send anextra message (i.e. a system information change message) to notify theUE of the configuration of the secondary notification message. Thus, theprocess 1400 can solve the issue 10 of the prior art.

Please refer to FIG. 15, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 1500according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process 1500 isutilized for managing the secondary notification message reception for aUE operating in a first RAT and can be compiled into the program code ofthe storage data 212. The process 1500 includes the following steps:

Step 1502: Start.

Step 1504: Receive a secondary notification message in a second RAT whenreceiving a primary notification message that includes information fornotifying the UE to receive the secondary notification message in thesecond RAT and that conforms to the first RAT.

Step 1506: End.

According to the process 1500, the network with the first RAT sends theprimary notification message to notify the UE operating in the first RATto receive the secondary notification message in the second RAT, and theUE accordingly receives the secondary notification message in the secondRAT when receiving the primary notification message.

Preferably, the second RAT is a GERAN or a UTRAN when the first RAT is aLTE system. In this situation, the UE in the LTE system can switch toother RAT, such as UMTS, to receive secondary notification message whenthe LTE system does not have enough radio resources. Thus, the process1500 can solve the issue 11 of the prior art.

In conclusion, the embodiments of the present invention providescriteria for the UE in the ETWS to manage the secondary notificationmessage reception according to the primary message reception, theinformation carried by a primary message, or the connection state of theUE to prevent the UE from wasting power on useless reception ofsecondary notification messages and from missing the secondarynotification messages.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of managing notification messagereception corresponding to natural disaster warning for a user equipmentof a wireless communication system, the method comprising: managing thenotification message reception according to configuration informationbroadcasted or paged by a network of the wireless communication system;wherein the configuration information broadcasted or paged by thenetwork of the wireless communication system is existence information ofa notification message sent by a serving cell.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the managing step comprises: determining whether executing thenotification message reception according to the existence information.3. The method of claim 1, wherein the existence information of thenotification message is a flag that indicates a broadcast state of thenotification message and is included in system information broadcastedby the serving cell.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the existenceinformation of the notification message comprises resource configurationabout notification message delivery in system information broadcasted bythe serving cell.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the notificationmessage is a secondary notification message of an earthquake and tsunamiwarning system, and the existence information of the notificationmessage is existence information of the secondary notification messageand is included in a primary notification message of the earthquake andtsunami warning system.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the existenceinformation of the secondary notification message comprises a broadcastscope of the secondary notification message.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the broadcast scope of the secondary notification message is acell-wide scope, a routing-area-wide scope, a location-area-wide scope,a tracking-area-wide scope, or a public-land-mobile-network-wide scope.8. A communication device of a wireless communication system formanaging notification message reception corresponding to naturaldisaster warning, the communication device comprising: a processingmeans for executing a program; and a storage unit coupled to theprocessing means for storing the program; wherein the program instructsthe processing means to perform the following steps: managing thenotification message reception according to configuration informationbroadcasted or paged by a network of the wireless communication system;wherein the configuration information broadcasted or paged by thenetwork of the wireless communication system is existence information ofa notification message sent by a serving cell.
 9. The communicationdevice of claim 8, wherein the managing step comprises: determiningwhether executing the notification message reception according to theexistence information.
 10. The communication device of claim 8, whereinthe existence information of the notification message is a flag thatindicates a broadcast state of the notification message and is includedin system information broadcasted by the serving cell.
 11. Thecommunication device of claim 8, wherein the existence information ofthe notification message comprises resource configuration aboutnotification message delivery in system information broadcasted by theserving cell.
 12. The communication device of claim 8, wherein thenotification message is a secondary notification message of anearthquake and tsunami warning system, and the existence information ofthe notification message is existence information of the secondarynotification message and is included in a primary notification messageof the earthquake and tsunami warning system.
 13. The communicationdevice of claim 12, wherein the existence information of the secondarynotification message comprises a broadcast scope of the secondarynotification message.
 14. The communication device of claim 13, whereinthe broadcast scope of the secondary notification message is a cell-widescope, a routing-area-wide scope, a location-area-wide scope, atracking-area-wide scope, or a public-land-mobile-network-wide scope.